Dean closing out three-decade political career

[madfloridian]

Dean leaving politics

Outgoing Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean says he would have liked to work in the Obama administration, but instead he's going into private life.

Dean told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he is weighing where to next take his career after 30 years in politics. His term as party chairman ends Wednesday.

Some of his supporters have been upset that President-elect Barack Obama did not pick him for an administration job. When asked how he felt, Dean said it "would have been great" to be in the Cabinet but that is Obama's choice to make.

Dean says he plans to make some money giving speeches and share ideas about campaigns and technology with center-left political parties in other countries.

[ulysses]

1. this could be a great thing.

Howard on the outside? Working center-left? We might need this.

[peacetalksforall]

2. Yes, that might. Depends on what he thinks is private. I feel bitter that he has

been ostracized. I don't get it. This blackballing has gone over my head and I resent the outcome. I think of Dean the way I think of Sen. Sanders - where does that leave me?

[ulysses]

4. it leaves you where it leaves me in the "postpartisan" modernity.

Which is to say, it leaves you wondering "what the fuck?" same as it does me. It could be a good thing. It could be a disaster. We'll see.

[TheWraith]

9. The idea that Deah has been "ostracized" or "blackballed" is one he disputes.

He's publicly said he's had no fallings-out with the Obama team. The idea that Dean was "snubbed" or "replaced" is entirely media speculation.

[madfloridian]

10. Not really.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/3366

[blm]

20. Doesn't mean it didn't happen. Kerry would say he wasn't screwed over or ostracized during BCCI, but

the fact remains he was completely ostracized in DC by just about powerstructure that existed there, including many of his own party. Plotical leaders like Kerry and Dean wouldn't complain publicly because it would erode any effectiveness they may wish to have on other issues they consider crucial. What else can they do when they are men who still want to help the world be a better and safer place for those with no say and representation?

[madfloridian]

22. Exactly right, blm.

[cliffordu]

59. I don't understand the snub, either. Really weird.

[cynatnite]

3. Howard Dean got the Dem party where it is today and this is his reward...

:grr:

on edit: I hope he makes millions on the talk circuit.

[4 t 4]

5. Why is he being

ignored ?

[Horse with no Name]

8. He doesn't play "the game". n/t

[riverdeep]

11. He isn't DLC.

While many of the most prominent members of Obama's staff are or were. I guess the roundtable is big enough for Rick Warren but not big enough for Dean.

[FLAprogressive]

38. finally someone's figured it out

republicans -- no matter how ass backwards they are...are welcome

progressive dems -- thanks but no thanks....it's a "center-right nation"

[cascadiance]

56. BINGO!!! Howard, help us bring DOWN the DLC in 2010!!!!

The Primaries WILL be the elections of reckoning then!

Champion our roles for REAL grass roots candidates then and help us get alternate ways to fund their campaigns against the DLC Korporate money monster!

[Cherchez la Femme]

62. How, exactly,

will Dean 'bring down the DLC if he's retiring from politics?

[cascadiance]

64. I think he's going to keep a low profile to avoid being attacked more now...

I think he realizes that the corporate machine and the DLC still holds too much power, albeit they try to not do it out in the open as much, and that if he were going to hint on doing too much to fight them back with outside forces before having a chance to work with others to organize such efforts, they'd find ways to shut him down before he got started.

I don't think we've heard the last from Howard, despite what he might be saying.

People always have "come back from retirement". It happens all of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if the right things happen, Howard will be back on the front lines again. But I don't think he'll let himself be used and abused again by the jerks that sre still in the party.

[Cherchez la Femme]

66. Well, I hope so

although that defies the definition. :)


With Al Gore, he was mightily disrespected and so he retired from politics; it appears permanently (thank Goddess he's working on our environment). I fear we have incurred another such loss.

But, like I said, I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Thank you sir, for your service to our country! k+r, n/t

[AnnInLa]

7. Had the pleasure of seeing him

several times at last year's Netroots Nation in Austin, and let me tell you, he is a dynamo....a dynamo who's talents are being wasted if he is not going to be actively working for the Dem Party. A real waste! At least at Netroots Nation he was treated like a king, and appropriate approval was shown. I don't think the proper level of appreciation has been shown lately. There have been rumblings on some websites that the Dem Party will abandon the 50-state strategy and revert back to the old way of concentrating on the populous states. If so, that just figures.

[madfloridian]

12. More....Dean "punted" when asked how he felt.

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/washington/20090116_ap_deanending30yearpoliticalcareer.html

"Some of his supporters have been upset that after all he's done for Democrats, President-elect Barack Obama did not pick him for an administration job. When asked how he felt, Dean said he would "punt on that one."

"Obviously, it would have been great," Dean said in a telephone interview from his home in Burlington, Vt. "But it's not happening and the president has the right to name his own Cabinet, so I'm not going to work in the government it looks like."

Dean said he plans to make some money delivering speeches and share ideas about campaigns and technology with center-left political parties around the world. He said politicians in other countries are very interested in the technology that he used so successfully to raise money and organize his 2004 primary campaign and that Obama took to incredible new levels for his bid."

[mopinko]

13. i'm sure dfa would take him back.

we would sure be happy have him.

[BrklynLiberal]

14. A hero..and so under-recognized. Very sad.

[madfloridian]

24. And so few Democrats care. That's worrisome.

It tells me how the party will be going.

[smorgma]

26. As long as Obama is around, our fellow Dems

are in "don't worry, be happy" mode. It's kinda scary.
Hopefully they will wake up, because change does not happen if the Left sleeps! If Obama Emulates Lincoln, Will Progressives Follow Abolitionists and Radical Republicans?

[FLAprogressive]

37. it is very scary. i hope that DU holds Obama's feet to the fire as much as we have with *

Honestly, I've lost a lot of faith in him (with the "middle of the road" - read: right-leaning - cabinet...the Rick Warren disaster....the capitulation to Republicans..etc) I want so bad for him to prove me wrong, and I really hope he does.

[Cherchez la Femme]

65. Holds his feet to the fire?

For way too many here, Obama can do no wrong, and if you dare to criticize one thing he does you've completely, totally "thrown him under the bus". :eyes:
It's, as biopsychology would call it, an 'all-or-nothing response'. It's the new, Democratically approved version of "you're with us or against us".
doesn't matter that we decried the same when W & The Repukes did it ...for some reason this is different. :shrug:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Obama trumps all:
he trumps Gay Rights, he trumps Women's Rights
he trumps Civil Rights --rights that aren't 'that important'
or necessary
or timely, that is.

I have been incredibly disappointed in my party these past 8 years (and to a certain extent, the past 20 or so years), but what's happening now... I don't know if I can support them any longer especially if they keep going in the same losing, negative, hence Centrist-to-Right direction. The Democratic Party enjoyed it's strongest support, approval and membership when it stood up for ideals and what was right, its lowest when it 'went along to get along' and panders to the Republican Party.

And they've failed in recognizing and learning from that history.


2000 elections notwithstanding, the Democratic Party had better soon wake up to the fact that if they don't include (they, the "inclusive" :puke:) their Left wing, there will be an exodus to a true Left Party and that will be nobody's fault but their own.

Perhaps that will be beneficial to the country ...when its difficult to tell the difference between them, this two party system is NOT working.

[readmoreoften]

67. So many people who are Democrats now are just people who "don't like Bush"

That's not doesn't mean any political inclination. The Democratic party has been the catchall for everyone who isn't THOROUGHLY fascist, oligarchic, or timocratic. There are far right-wing social moderates who know think they're Democrats. There are hardcore pro-war authoritarian statists who believe in jobs programs who think they're Democrats. And in reality, since the Democratic party doesn't have an political content--it only means not letting the country slide to COMPLETE shit while doing business for multinational corporations--heck, they're probably more 'Democrats' than the center or center-left or leftist who has no political representation in this country, no voice, and no hope.

Well, this time "better than bush" was good enough. Next time Obama's on his own.

[DFW]

69. PLENTY of Democrats care!!

I have talked to two of the top people just under the Chairman's position at the DNC, and
they are extremely disappointed that Howard was shut out of the Obama Administration. Plus,
the blogs are full of this, as are more progressive newspapers and a small part of the electronic
media.

So few Democrats in the incoming administration care, and that is what I find troublesome, i.e. WHY?

[madfloridian]

15. At least he is speaking more honestly

than he did previously when he said not to believe the internet rumors. That was unfair to the blogosphere, so it's good he is being more open.

[robinlynne]

16. This is definitely an Obama fuckup. could have been head of health education and welfare....

could have been anything. Dean is a great Dem leader. Much better than most who Obama seated...imho

[fla nocount]

17. Don't count him out. He was screamin' for a reason.

This cool customer in the gray suit isn't done and he hasn't retired. Who was surprised when he transitioned from MSM stooge to national party chair in an almost seamless move that no one noticed except for two DLC cupcakes? Prepare to be surprised again.

Don't expect him to scream again though, your innocence only dies once in this lifetime.

Dean 2012. Why not? He already has more grass-roots support than P.E. BO and he's a hell of a lot more savvy than the Yes Man.

[undeterred]

27. He has a lot of grassroots support among people

who identify with the Democratic Party and are interested in politics. Obama's support may not be as deep but its much, much broader. Dean is a great man and would be a very good president, but I don't think its meant to be. I am sure he will invent a role for himself in which he can still do a lot of good things for the Democratic Party and the country.

[fla nocount]

30. He'll do it for the country and mankind in general, worldwide.

He won't do jack for the DLC Party except to engineer a way to bring it to it's knees. Without going into detail, trust me, H. Dean is not twiddling his thumbs while he contemplates the lecture circuit. He won't make enemies and he won't polarize the populace but the world will continue to improve because Dean is in it and this country will never be the same. His influence will not be passive, insidious sounds so negative, let's go for pervasive.

Wait.

[depakid]

18. "share ideas about campaigns and technology with center-left political parties in other countries."

The ALP could surely use the help.

[madfloridian]

23. More on what he said.

"He said politicians in other countries are very interested in the technology that he used so successfully to raise money and organize his 2004 primary campaign and that Obama took to incredible new levels for his bid."

And not here?

[tbyg52]

19. >>says he would have liked to work in the Obama administration

Well so much for "he didn't want an Administration job."

Thank you for everything you've done for us, Dr. Dean! :patriot:

[madfloridian]

31. Amen.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

21. This article was right.

It was a thoughtful blog from Time by Karen Tumulty.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/3392

"If Dean is magnanimous in public, it doesn't mean that he--or, just as importantly, the people he has worked with, who continue be important to the party--feel that way in private.
.
Nor does it excuse the Obama Team for refusing to make a small gesture that wouldn't have cost them a penny. It is a telling story. I just don't know precisely what it is telling us. Is this Rahm not letting go of old grievances? A signal that Obama's folks want to take the party in a different strategic and tactical direction?"

Small gestures mean a lot.

Dean is not dissing the netroots in that AP interview today, and it is much appreciated. He must have heard about it.

[Le Taz Hot]

55. This absolutely IS Rahm.

And you know what's ironic? The P.E. wants to "look forward" on the subject of prosecuting war criminals in the Bush Administration, but that doesn't seem to apply when it comes to Rahm's personal vendetta against Dean. And I have to question a president who would actually listen to such a piece of offal.

[JCMach1]

81. Yep, this is ALL Rahm...

vindictive little bastard

[smorgma]

25. I'm very upset by this!

Dean was the last Democratic candidate that I passionately endorsed. I find him much more authentic and transgressive than Obama -- which is why he's not president.

[madfloridian]

28. I am also upset.

It was not necessary at all, and a simple gesture by the Obama team could have eased a lot of hurt feelings. It did not have to be a position, but making sure he was out of the country when he introduced Kaine was not a good move.

[fla nocount]

33. The move was indicative of the motives and methods of Clintons II's...

sloppy seconds in regards to the energy that gave them power. "Where else will they go with their vote?"

BO has been given Jimmy Carter's scenario and will not repeat. I feel that there will be a viable 3rd party in 2012 and if well organized and articulate will win. I think that most folks would vote for anything other than what we've seen in the last 3 decades and what we will see 4 years hence. It is time for REAL CHANGE, not sound bites from another corporate changeling like BO.

There's a bad, BAD, moon rising. The next 4 years are going to be a tipping point for all and a disaster for those without survival skills or the will to use them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeZm7KQJT1o

[madfloridian]

35. I think you may be right.

They are opening the party to the right, but not making gestures to the left. Yes, this was too much, and I can't bear the love being given those who have hurt our country.

It is breaking my heart.

[FLAprogressive]

36. unfortunately I have to agree...the DLC has irrevocably damaged our party for their own gain.

If Obama joins them on their destructive course, I think it's high time for a third party.

Progressive Dems have been used by the DLC stooges because there's no alternative....either a DLC neocon loser or a Republican. that needs to change.

it's time to take back our party.....

[fla nocount]

40. Settle down girl, you're a big part of our magic around here.

Revenge is a dish best eaten cold and if it comes 4 years hence, think of how hungry we will be and how grateful for the repast.

Working right now for a primary upset for Bill Nelson, Toni Jennings isn't interested in the Martinez seat since J. Bush won't be running. Nelson as a few contenders, but my guy just wants to front issues for debate and doesn't expect to compete. Two/four years is a long time for daily catastrophes though, he might do better than he thinks.

Don't quit...wait. As things go downhill and expectations lessen alternatives become more attractive. We all get caught in the trap that the present is all that is real. Tomorrow is the only thing that is real and it's going to suck if those folks in charge of today are still running the show.

Love you, appreciate you for your effort, your research skills and your un-bending spirit. We will win in the end, but you already knew that, those folks are just wrong, they're not sustainable nor feasible.

[madfloridian]

41. Nelson is so entrenched and so arrogant.

I hear Kendrick Meek is running for Martinez seat...and Sink is not running.

I do get discouraged here.

[fla nocount]

42. John Crotty will do it for shits and giggles.

And I will help, his wife may or may not like it as it keeps him from home on a fools errand. He ran for Gov. just to force debate and he might run for Sen. for the same reason...working on it. The Hon. James Hauser is another possibility. Bill Nelson is an easy target in this new and tangled political climate, his voting record sucks and there's plenty of personal dirt to shovel on top of him.

As things get worse for yesterday and today, things get better for tomorrow and not a promise, but a guarantee for change. It's like teen-age acne...anything, anything at all, just make it stop. Raw onion, garlic juice, cat piss, baby diapers, rotten potatoes, mushrooms harvested under a full moon, a subscription to Mad magazine, please....for Christs sake just make it stop. We're almost there and there will be no party lines, just a voter for real change. We're almost there, wait. Since there is no difference in party, the difference will be in the candidate.

[madfloridian]

43. One thing. Nelson doesn't need the Democrats to win.

That's his ace in the hole. He only needs the Republicans, who are just about his base.

And he sure does have the money...big money.

[fla nocount]

44. Are you trying to take the wind from my sails?

Big Sugar doesn't play the way it used to, granted that the Gators are national champs again and Ben Hill must be proud, or at least his bones are. Miami's reprobate Cuban community is never going to recover it's estates or it's barefoot illiterate servants, Clear Channel has been sold, and the Repugs are a jaded commodity with the voters here in Claude Pepper's state, we won, sorta.

It would be easy to smear Nelson on his voting record alone. He is not popular with the Dem.s and he doesn't have enough of the "Lieberman Effect" to sway the Repugs to vote Dem.

Come on, help me fight the good fight. Lie to me and tell me I'm right.

At the very least I'll help those who want to waste their time running in the primary to make that ass say things that he wished he hadn't. That's politics too.

[madfloridian]

45. Guess Nelson brings out the worst in me.

You are right, we have to think positive. We have fought so many fights here, it's hard to do it again.

Your enthusiasm is rather contagious, though. :)

[rhett o rick]

72. I agree. But trying not to sound to corny, we have to maintain our resolve and

keep the momentum going that pushed Obama into the White House. I think a sleeping giant has awakened and it is progressive.

The people I worked with were very positive, willing to work hard, and young.

We need to take back the Democratic Party and I hope we can count on Dean to help.

Oh yeah, we survived the horrible disappointment of the 2004 Presidential election and are willing to work to see that doesn't happen again.

[Pastiche423]

71. A corporate changeling

That's the phrase I have been searching for. Thanks!

[fla nocount]

78. You're welcome. Some folks are policy wonks

Some are meme generators. We all serve a purpose. Smartass 101 was a favorite course...I slept through it and still made A's. I so wish that I could make a living at what I enjoy so much.

[Pastiche423]

80. lol

[tbyg52]

75. Hey, smorgma!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[mdmc]

29. God bless Howard Dean

DOCTOR!

[blendermax]

32. Obama used Dean to get elected

and once he got what he wanted out of Dean, tossed him out like yesterday's news.
Obama has nothing but contempt for the left. His true colors have emerged.

Obama is a DLCer through and through.

[FLAprogressive]

34. hey, I'd leave too if I was treated like dogshit by the people I helped to get elected

[mdmc]

46. I'm a progressive liberal...

so I am already mad used to it...

What can you do..

[cascadiance]

63. I think it's fine and understandable to leave the party...

... especially if he sees the barriers he sees for progressive influence reform being too high to overcome.

However, I'd like to think he'd still stay in politics.

And just the way many are speculating that Obama and his team are holding back from telegraphing any concrete moves towards prosecution of the former administration before he takes offic to avoid more massive pardons than what is likely already planned, perhaps Dean isn't telegraphing what he will do next in politics too, since it seems obvious that the corporate machine in the Democratic Party will try to fight him wherever he pops up.

Though perhaps Dean doesn't want to stick his neck singularly out too much to fight the good fight right now, I'm betting that if a good organized effort to launch a progressive counter to the corporate takeover gets started, Dean will likely jump on board and help if he sees it being something where he could help with it.

Dean's leaving is a challenge to us to pick up some of the slack I think...

The fact that those going after him are doing it silently instead of out in the open as Madfloridian notes, I think might also be a positive sign as well. Perhaps its because they realize that the general public is getting fed up with the corporate games that insiders are playing, and feel the need now to do their operations in stealth mode instead of out in the open as a result. Now, they are good at operating in stealth mode, and are currently very powerful at doing so with a compliant press, etc., but it also tells me that they are vulnerable if we can expose their actions, and that they are afraid of the masses being able to do something against them if that happens.

[peacetalksforall]

39. I WANT DEAN THERE _ CELEBRATING AND WITH A SPOTLIGHT ON HIM AND

PEOPLE KISSING AND SHAKING HIS HAND. I WANT HIM REWARDED, NOT AT HOME WITH A SMALL GROUP OF DAMILY AND FRIENDS.

Since I am anti-DLC, I am very concerned.

Obama has been riding a DLC fence or call it a basketball line.

I will be thinking about Dean. I appreciate his ideology.

[merkins]

47. K&R

'I am Howard Dean and I here to represent the democratic wing of the Democratic Party.'

[crispini]

48. this upsets me.

I like Howard.

[earth mom]

49. This is sad & makes me question whether Obama will listen to Gore or not either. nt

[shadowknows69]

50. If ANYONE deserved a cabinet position it was Dr. Dean

I think he scared the lobby loving Dems by proving that "We the people" could finance a campaighn without corporate interests. The 50 state strategy was pure brilliance.

[NashVegas]

51. I Just Hope

He isn't going to wind up delivering the South American leftists to the corptocracy the way he did with the US center-left.

[muriel_volestrangler]

52. We'll take him, in the UK!

I'd love to see him work with the Liberal Democrats, in the election which has to happen either this year or the next. If he could give them a boost (maybe get a hung parliament, with the Lib Dems then a coalition partner?), it'd be a good use of his time.

[mmonk]

53. I don't blame him at all. Maybe he can start a democracy movement

somewhere, maybe even here.

[cascadiance]

57. We need a new Center-left or Left party, not a Center-right party...

This term will be the term of reckoning. If we can't force out the right-wing and corporate leanings of the party now, it will be a time to bring in a newer party that represents the majority LEFT people of this country!

[readmoreoften]

68. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

I don't want a marketable hero. I want justice.

[Le Taz Hot]

54. THIS is what class looks like!

Take note, Emmauel, you POS! How sad is this? No place for him, indeed. And people wonder why I'm no longer a Democrat. It's because of shit like this.

[Festivito]

58. Dean is the far better man.

Too many of US are not ready for that greatness, like a great idea before its scientific credence.

[OhioChick]

60. I'm very sad to hear this. n/t

[madfloridian]

61. We knew what was happening back in November...

when the anonymous hit pieces started.

I had hoped these people would not continue to have such powerful voices in the party, but I was wrong.

[madfloridian]

70. Bush seemed unbeatable in 2003.

Dean took him on, much to the consternation of his own party. Under his chairmanship we have taken back congress and the White House.

When the new chairman was introduced it was said to be best if the old was not present.

If that's how winners are treated by their own party, there's problems ahead.

Back to the old ways? God I hope not.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/3112

[Pastiche423]

73. As Obama chose DLCers and Clinton retreads for his admin

one by one, I became upset. W/the shunning of Howard Dean, any last shred of hope I had is gone. It really sucks to have lived through the last eight years and then be presented w/what is taking place now.

Throwing away a man w/such integrety, honesty, diplomacy and boundless energry as that of Howard Dean is a HUGE fuck you to the grassroots and the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

But that is what repubic lites do.

I wanted the enormous weight on my shoulders that I have carried since December 12, 2000, to be lifted after the election. But it did not happen and now I doubt it ever will in my lifetime.

[JCMach1]

83. Sanders will retire some time...

Dean would be the perfect candidate...

[mdmc]

74. kick

[Irishonly]

76. I am sad to see him go

I was hoping for an appointment or at least a lot more kudos than what he received. Dr. Dean has always shown grace no matter how horrible some of the DLCers were to him.

[madfloridian]

79. Frankly, hubby and I are feeling bitter.

It set a cold tone that is hard for many people to understand and accept. There is no reason for it. Just some simple recognition rather than scheduling an event there and asking him not to come.

Sets a bad tone.

[Irishonly]

84. I understand

Howard Dean would never say anything publically about what has happened. He never has even when some DLCers were bashing him every chance they got.

[madfloridian]

77. 2003 speech almost sounds like it could be today. Except Bush is gone.

The same problems are there and waiting to be fixed.

From Politico...speech The Great American Restoration

Today, our nation is in crisis. At home, this crisis manifests itself in this President's destruction of the idea of community. This President pushes forward an agenda and policies which divide us. He advocates economic polices which beggar the middle class and raise property taxes so that income taxes may be cut for those who ran Enron.

He divides us by race by using the word quota, which appeals to the worst in us by instilling fear that people of color might take our jobs or our places in the nation's best universities. He divides us by gender by attacking a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. And even by attacking young women's right to have the same athletic opportunities that young men do. He divides us by sexual orientation by supporting senators who have slandered gay Americans, and he appeals once again to the worst instincts within us, instead of that which is good in all Americans.

The tax cuts that are the radicals' weapon are not about tax cuts for working people. They are not even about tax cuts for millionaires. Instead, the tax cuts are designed to destroy Social Security, Medicare, our public schools and our public services through starvation and privatization.

Our President and too many in Washington are giving away our future so that we pass to our children not a flickering flame of freedom but the chain of insurmountable debt.

Sounds pretty much like the problems today.

[JCMach1]

82. You still can't convince me we wouldn't have won a clear victory in '04

if Dean was at the top of the ticket.

Someone unequivocally against the war...

:(


Nothing against Kerry, I'm just saying...

[karynnj]

85. That ignores the polls that show that

59% of the country though the country was doing every well or fairly well. Depending on how the question was asked less than half the country was willing to say that we should not have gone to war. In addition, a much LARGER percent - including many against the war were convinced that we had to "fix" what we broke. Kerry likely did better than could reasonably have been inspected given the way the deck was stacked against him in 2004.

Dean was no more for just ending the war than Kerry was. That itself would have been twisted to make it less unequivocal - ie he, like Bush, thinks we need to fight this war - only do it better. What to do going forward was more the issue than whether we should have gone in the first place.

I think Dean never polled higher than Bush - and was lower than generic Democrat.

[JCMach1]

86. for Kerry it was the equivocation about the issue that was the problem

It fed into the overall perception of him... remember Kerry the flipflopper?

I am not saying it was right or fair... just what happened.



And I stick by my opinion that Dean would have won... As I said, just an opinion.

[karynnj]

88. Mine was just an opinion too

I also think that the "flip flopper" charge was handled poorly - it was primarily based on Kerry's ill worded comment - that followed a very good explanation - the charge he was fighting then was that he would not fund the war - the series of votes was because he thought the cost of the war had to be paid for. (A sentiment that would have resonated now - given the huge hole we are in)

Kerry explained it many times - but his surrogates really were awful. The worst was Joe Biden, who on one of the talk shows when asked about KERRY's votes answered that Kerry was wrong and he should have voted yes for both as Biden did!. Given Biden's own votes, it was likely what he thought was right - but his task then was to explain that the second was a protest vote - that reflected the fact that he thought it was very important to fund it and oversee the use of the money - the first vote was a Biden/Kerry alternative.

The Republicans generalized that one instance - that was NOT a flip flop - in the windsurfing ad. In retrospect, Kerry might have helped himself with a strong response to that - including windsurfing. Imagine he hired a great (young) windsurfing expert (like those who taught Kerry), to windsurf and speak of how windsurfing required the strength to go against the wind - then have someone (Morenthau?) speak of how Kerry spend 5 years standing against everyone to investigate OBL's bank BCCI and how what he found out led to closing that bank. Linking the physical ability to navigate against the wind to moral and principled political strength to stand against powerful interests. (The reason for a young windsurfer would be to get rid of the Republican and media caricature of a demanding athletic sport.

From the polls, Kerry impressed many people as having the ability to be commander in chief. Dean did not - and he never was hit by the incredible attacks that Kerry faced.

[GetTheRightVote]

87. After getting Obama into office, I would have thought he would be treated better ...

Hmmmm, it does make a person wonder about him ? Obama that is.

:kick:

[LWolf]

89. Where will he be tomorrow?

Will he even be at the big event?

Just wondering.

[madfloridian]

90. I saw a blog that he was at the Netroots Nation party.

And someone saw him walking down the street in DC. So I guess he is there.